Wicketkeeper-batsman of England and Gujarat Titans jos buttler The events of the IPL final have revealed how he was sent in at No. 4 in the Titans' batting innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Buttler forms the top three, along with opener Sai Sudarshan and captain Shubman Gill, who have performed heavily with the bat. titans In the 2026 season. Despite this, after the early fall of Gill's wicket in the final, Nishant Sindhu went on to score 3 runs over Butler. The result of the decision was poor, with Sindhu scoring 20 runs in 18 balls. Buttler revealed that head coach Ashish Nehra took the decision after Gill was out for 22 runs.
“Yeah, good wicket fell. I got up to put on my helmet and Ashish said, 'Sit down. We're sending Nishant on at three o'clock.' “He felt like it gave him an opportunity to get into the game,” Buttler said on the 'For the Love of Cricket' podcast.
The final was the second occasion that Sindhu finished ahead of Buttler in IPL 2026, the first being their game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Buttler further talked about changing his approach, moving in at No. 4, taking the game deeper and trying to take boundaries after being set. He was dismissed by Krunal PandyaWho stumped him on a wide yorker. Buttler, who managed a slow inning of 19 off 23 balls, praised Pandya for his awareness of the situation to get him out.
“I feel like I've batted at number four once before. The second time, he got ahead of me again in Kolkata. So, it's not the only time it happened. You know, right or wrong, it didn't work out for us. I felt like when I was batting, I wanted to take it a little bit deeper, after losing a few wickets, go run-a-ball for a while and then try to pick up those boundaries and move on. And I never Couldn't get any boundaries. That's a really good piece of bowling, Krunal. He saw it coming and I got stumped.
Buttler expressed disappointment with his innings in the final and said that they could have reached a score of around 180, which could have proved competitive. They could only score 155 runs for 8 wickets, which defending champion RCB achieved thanks to Virat Kohli's unbeaten 75 runs in 42 balls.
Buttler further said, “Disappointing, you got worse than run-a-ball in the IPL final. It's not a good look. I had a plan in my mind how to play, which I think was the right plan. I just didn't execute on it. I think if we could have got to 180, it would have been a really good score.”
Despite a poor performance in the final, Buttler had an excellent season, scoring 526 runs at a strike rate of 152.46. Signed by the Titans ahead of the 2025 season, the Englishman has scored more than 500 runs in both the seasons he has played for the Titans.
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